Waist Measuring Belt

ABSTRACT

In various example embodiments, devices, systems, and methods for a waist measuring belt are provided. An example waist measuring belt is made up of a belt buckle frame with attachments for a belt strap. The belt further includes a position measuring module coupled to the belt buckle frame that measures an attachment position of a second end of the belt strap to the belt buckle frame. The belt also includes a tension measuring module coupled to the belt buckle frame that measures a tension through the belt buckle frame and the belt strap. A memory and a wireless communication module attached to the belt may be used to store measurements and communicate with a mobile device or server. In various embodiments, estimated user waist sizes over time using measured values and belt-specific data may be used to estimate a user&#39;s waist size and generate a waist size history.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This Application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 17/081,822, filed Oct. 27, 2020, entitled “WaistMeasuring Belt,” which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 16/433,052, filed Jun. 6, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No.10,845,260, entitled “Waist Measuring Belt,” which is a continuation ofand claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 14/556,522, filed Dec.1, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,359,327, entitled “Waist Measuring Belt,”the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to wearableelectronics, and, more particularly, to a belt system for automaticallytaking waist measurements, as well as associated systems for trackingwaist measurements and generated waist measurement alerts over time.

BACKGROUND

Personal health and fitness is important from many differentperspectives. This includes economic, interpersonal, lifespan, and othersuch perspectives. Waist size, in certain circumstances, may function asan indicator for fitness, and waist size is particularly associated witha number of negative health outcomes when a waist size becomesexcessively large. Devices, systems, and methods for automatic waistmeasurements and tracking of waist measurements over time are disclosedherein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various ones of the appended drawings merely illustrate exampleembodiments of the present disclosure and cannot be considered aslimiting its scope.

FIG. 1A illustrates a waist measuring belt, according to some exampleembodiments.

FIG. 1B illustrates an example embodiment of a system including a waistmeasuring belt.

FIG. 1C illustrates additional aspects of a waist measuring belt,according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method of waist measurement using a waist measuringbelt, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates another waist measuring belt, according to someexample embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a belt buckle frame for a waist measuring belt,according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating aspects of waist measurement usinga waist measuring belt, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 6A depicts an example mobile device and mobile operating systeminterface, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 6B depicts an example mobile device and mobile operating systeminterface, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a softwarearchitecture that may be installed on a machine, according to someexample embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theform of a computer system within which a set of instructions may beexecuted for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a network which maybe used with an implementation of a system for waist measurement using awaist measuring belt, according to certain example embodiments.

The headings provided herein are merely for convenience and do notnecessarily affect the scope or meaning of the terms used.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident,however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventivesubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

This description relates to devices, systems, and methods for waistmeasurement using a waist measuring belt. In particular, a waistmeasuring belt is described which enables capability for measuring aperimeter of a belt based on a position of attachment between a beltstrap and a belt buckle frame, and measuring a tension in the beltstrap. The waist measuring belt also includes communication input andoutput components which enable wireless communications with otherdevices. The waist measuring belt may either store waist measurementslocally or communicate the measurements to a mobile device or anothercomputing device that may record a history of waist measurements.Additional system aspects may then analyze the waist measurements thatoccur over time and present this information to a user via an interfaceof a user device.

A “waist” as referred to herein may be used broadly to apply to any partof a person which may be fitted with a belt strap. In certain exampleembodiments, a waist will be any perimeter around a person's abdomenbetween the rib cage and the hips that may be encircled by a belt strap.In other example embodiments, the waist may be a perimeter includingportions of a person's body outside the person's abdomen. In variousembodiments, such a perimeter may be at the person's skin or slightlyaway from the person's skin as separated by clothing or structures inthe belt or the person's shape that separate the belt strap from theuser's skin.

“Tension” as referred to herein refers to a pulling force exerted byeach end of an elongated object that may make up a belt strap. This beltor belt strap may include a string, cable, chain, leather strap, or anyother such object that may make up a belt strap. Such a belt includes abelt buckle or belt buckle frame that may be used to connect two ends ofsuch a belt strap, and may thus propagate the pulling force through aperimeter loop of a belt.

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C illustrate aspects of a belt 100 for waistmeasurement according to some example embodiments. FIG. 1A illustratesthe belt 100 in an open position. Belt 100 includes a belt buckle frame110 and a belt strap 120. Such a belt buckle frame may be part of a beltbuckle with an ornamental or protective from which may be permanently ormodularly attacked to the belt buckle frame. In other embodiments, sucha belt buckle frame may simply be a belt buckle. Belt strap 120 includesa first end 121 and a second end 123. Belt strap 120 also includes aplurality of attachment areas 122, 124, and 126.

FIG. 1B illustrates an example embodiment of a system 101 including thebelt 100. System 101 includes not only belt 100 including elements120-124 discussed above, but also mobile device 180, network 104, andserver computer 106. In system 101, the belt 100 is in position around auser's waist, and may be taking waist measurements which includeposition measurements and tension measurements as detailed furtherbelow. Wireless input and output systems of belt 100 may providecommunication with mobile device 180 via communication path 102 toenable waist measurement communications to be sent from belt 100 tomobile device 180. In other embodiments, belt 100 may communicatedirectly with network 104 via access points or other such wirelessinterfaces. Network 104 enables communication between mobile device 180and server computer 106 via communication path 103, the network 104, andcommunication path 105. This may include any wired or wirelesscommunication means and any network devices such as access points,routers, intermediate server systems, or any other such networkcommunication device. As detailed further below, mobile device 180 andserver computer 106 may, in different embodiments, either together orindividually, process waist measurement communications from belt 100 tocreate estimated waist measurements from tension and positionmeasurements taken together by belt 100. These estimated waistmeasurements may then be aggregated and presented to the user either viamobile device 180 or via any other device of the user that is incommunication with either mobile device 180 or server computer 106 vianetwork 104.

FIG. 1C illustrates additional aspects of the belt 100 according to someexample embodiments. As illustrated by FIG. 1C, belt buckle frame 110 ofbelt 100 includes a first belt attachment 112, a second belt attachment114, a position measuring module 150, a tension measuring module 160, amemory device 175, and a wireless communication module 170.

The first end 121 of belt strap 120 is attached to the first beltattachment 112. The connection between the first end 121 of belt strap120 and the first belt attachment 112 may be any fixed or adjustableconnection. The second end 123 of belt strap 120 is attached to thesecond belt attachment 114 using attachment area 126. In variousembodiments, the attachment of the first end 121 to the first beltattachment 112 and the attachment of the second end 123 to the secondbelt attachment 114 may both be adjustable, or only one of theseconnections may be adjustable. In FIG. 1C, only the attachment from asecond end 123 to the second belt attachment 114 using attachment area126 is shown as adjustable.

Position measuring module 150 is used to determine the attachmentposition of the second end 123 to the second belt attachment 114.Position measuring module 150 may use a number of different means todetermine which attachment area of the attachment areas, includingattachment area 126, attachment area 124, or attachment area 122, isattached to the second belt attachment 114. In one embodiment, positionmeasuring module 150 may include a contact sensor in certain embodimentsthat senses patterns within the plurality of attachment areas 122through 126. Such patterns may be variations in color, texture, orengraved patterns in a surface of at least a portion of an attachmentarea. For the illustrated attachment position at attachment area 126,position measuring module 150 may determine a position in belt strap 120where the attachment between the second belt attachment 114 and thesecond end 123 occurs based both on the detected pattern from attachmentarea 126 and previously received belt information. The belt informationdescribes the position of attachment area 126 within the belt strap 120.Given the position of attachment area 126 within the belt strap 120, aperimeter distance around the loop of the belt 100 and a user's waistmay be determined.

In alternate embodiments, rather than a plurality of attachment areas122, 124, and 126, an attachment position between second end 123 andsecond belt attachment 114 may occur at any portion along the belt strap120. In such embodiments, different position measuring mechanisms may beused to determine the attachment position. For example, the positionmeasuring mechanism may include a plurality of magnets with an arrangedpattern that differentiates the magnetic field along the length of thesecond end 123. In such embodiments, position measuring module 150 mayinclude a sensor to detect the variation in the magnetic field, and maydetermine the attachment position between the second end 123 and secondbelt attachment 114 based on the detected magnetic field.

In further embodiments, various circuits may be used to detect theattachment position. For example, various positions along second end 123and different attachment areas along second end 123 may have differingresistance values associated with them. The circuit in positionmeasuring module 150 may detect a particular resistance value at acertain attachment area and use this resistance value to determine aposition where the second end 123 is attached the second belt attachment114.

In still further embodiments, a pattern such as a color pattern may beunique in various attachment areas along a second end 123 of the beltstrap 120. Position measuring module 150 may include a sensor to detectthe patterns and to determine a position of attachment based on thepattern at the detected attachment area.

In various different embodiments where the position of attachment isdetected, information associating a particular position with a perimeterdistance may be stored in memory device 175. For example, in theembodiment of belt 100 shown by FIG. 1C, memory device 175 may store adistance from first belt attachment 112 to second belt attachment 114.The memory device 175 also stores a distance from the first beltattachment 112 along belt strap 120 to each of the plurality ofattachment areas 122, 124, and 126. When the attachment area 126 isdetected as a position of attachment between the second end 123 of beltstrap 120 and the second belt attachment 114, the detected position maybe used with the belt information in memory device 175 to determine aperimeter distance around belt 100.

Belt buckle frame 110 also includes tension measuring module 160.Tension measuring module 160 may include a number of different means fordetecting tension in belt strap 120. For example, in one embodiment,tension measuring module 160 may include a spring with an attachedelectronic circuit that measures a tensile force exerted on both ends ofthe spring. The spring may be coupled between the first belt attachment112 and the first end 121 of belt strap 120 such that the tensile forceexerted on one end by belt strap 120 and on the other end by belt buckleframe 110 is transmitted through the spring. The tensile force measuredby the circuit attached to the spring will thus be equal to the tensionin belt strap 120. In alternate embodiments, a tension measuring module160 may be disposed in the belt strap 120 rather than belt buckle frame110.

In various embodiments, a tension measuring module may be any system ordevice for tension measurement. For example, a strain gauge may be usedfor tension measurements. In another example embodiment, such a tensionmeasuring module 160 may include a first rigid frame with a first beltstrap opening and the second belt strap opening. The first belt strapopening and the second belt strap opening each surround a separatesection of the belt strap 120. A displacement point attachment may becoupled to the belt strap 120 at a point midway between the first beltstrap opening and the second belt strap opening. The displacement pointattachment may then be coupled to the rigid enclosure by a measurementelement. During a tension measurement, the measurement element may applya force perpendicular in any direction to the line of the belt strap120. The distance of the displacement of the displacement point createdby the application of the force perpendicular to the belt strap 120 maybe used to calculate a tension in the belt strap 120. Alternatively, theforce applied perpendicular to the line of the belt strap 120 may begenerated such that a particular displacement distance perpendicular tothe line of the belt strap 120 may be generated. The amount of forceused may be used to calculate a tension in the belt strap 120.

Tension measurements and position measurements are taken as pairs suchthat each tension measurement will have an associated positionmeasurement. Because, in certain embodiments, belt 100 and belt strap120 may not perfectly encircle the user's waist with a given attachmentposition at an attachment area such as attachment area 126, the tensionin belt strap 120 may not vary as a user's waist size changes. Tensionmeasurement and the corresponding position measurement together may thusbe used to generate a more accurate estimate of a user's waist size. Inone embodiment, a particular belt may have an associated table thatprovides an estimated waist size for a corresponding pair of positionmeasurements and tension measurements. If tension and/or positionmeasurements do not exactly match the numbers in the table, values maybe rounded up or down, or an interpolation may be used to furtherestimate a waist size based on the position and tension measurements. Inother embodiments, rather than using a table to generate an estimatedsize, a formula may be used that estimates the waist size as a functionof the position measurement that provides a circumference of the beltplus a tension adjustments to that:

[estimated waist size]=f1(position measurement)+g1(tension measurement)

Different belts may use different functions based on the qualities ofthe belt so that any number of different functions f1, f2, fn, and so onmay be used with the position measurement and any number of differentfunctions or weighting values g1, g2, gn, and so on may be used withtension measurements.

Tension measurement and a position measurement together may comprise asingle waist measurement. Waist measurements may then be communicated toa separate remote device via wireless communication module 170. Invarious embodiments, a plurality of waist measurements may be stored inmemory device 175 and then communicated via wireless communicationmodule 170 as a set. In other embodiments, each individual pair oftension and position measurements may be communicated via wirelesscommunication module 170 in a stream as the measurements are taken. Insuch embodiments, memory device 175 may merely be a temporary memory ofeither tension measuring module 160, position measuring module 150, orboth. In embodiments where waist measurements are stored or aggregatedat the belt 100, memory device 175 may be a separate nonvolatile memorydevice.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 of waist measurement using a waistmeasuring belt according to some example embodiments. While method 200may be used with a variety of different implementations of a waistmeasuring belt, method 200 is described below in the context of theparticular example embodiment of belt 100.

Method 200 begins at operation 210 with measuring, using a tensionmeasuring module 160, a first tension in a belt strap 120, wherein thebelt strap 120, a belt buckle frame 110, and the tension measuringmodule 160 are all coupled as part of a belt 100. Additionally, thefirst tension is measured during a first time period. In variousembodiments, the tension measuring module 160 may include electroniccircuits for tension measurement, spring elements, or microelectronicmachine elements, as well as memory storage or cache and associatedelectronic processing and/or filtering circuitry.

Operation 220 involves measuring, using a position measuring module 150coupled to the belt 100, a first position where the belt strap 120connects to the belt buckle frame 110. This measurement occurs duringthe first time period, and the first time period is such that themeasurement of the first tension is reasonably associated with themeasurement of the first position. This enables later waist sizeestimates to use both the first tension measurement and the firstposition measurement with the assumption that the perimeter enclosed bythe belt 100 at the time of the first tension measurement may bedetermined from the first position measurement. In various embodiments,the position measuring module 150 may include measuring circuitry aswell as mechanical measuring elements. Position measuring module 150 mayalso include memory storage or cache and associated electronicprocessing and/or filtering circuitry. In certain embodiments, positionmeasuring module 150 may share memory, processing, or filtering elementswith tension measuring module 160 or any other module that is integratedwith belt 100.

Operation 230 involves measuring, using the tension measuring module160,a second tension in the belt strap 120 during a second time period thatis different from the first time period. Similar to the first timeperiod, the second time period need only be reasonably allocated suchthat a second position may be reasonably associated with the secondtension. Additionally, the second time period is different from thefirst time period to the extent that the waist measurements generatedusing the position measurements and the tension measurements are used toestimate a waist size over time. In certain embodiments, waistmeasurements comprising a tension measurement and an associated positionmeasurement may be taken at predetermined intervals. Such an intervalmay be once a minute or once an hour. This data may be aggregated forlater use in estimating a waist size using a table or function asdescribed above, or may be used immediately to estimate a waist size foreach position/tension pair, with the estimated waist sizes stored, orboth.

In addition to measurement of waist size, such waist measurements may,in certain embodiments, be used to measure additional details associatedwith a user. For example, in certain embodiments, a sufficientlysensitive tension measuring module 160 may detect a user's heartbeatunder appropriate conditions. In an implementation configured to detecta user's heart rate, the tension measuring module 160 may performmultiple measurements per second. All of this information may be stored,or in certain embodiments, filtering circuitry may be used to determinewhen noise in the measurements overwhelms the target information fromthe sensor. Such noise may be from user movement, background vibrationfrom a vehicle, or other such sources. Such filtering circuitry may beused to remove data with undesired noise, and retain only informationwithout such background noise, where the target information is availablefrom the waist measurements. In still further embodiments, a separateheart rate measurement module separate from the tension measuring module160 may be present and used to gather heart rate information. In suchembodiments, this information may be aggregated with waist measurementsfor communication purposes.

Operation 240 involves measuring, using the position measuring module150, a second position where the belt strap 120 connects to the beltbuckle frame 110 during the second time period. In certain embodiments,the second position may be determined to be equal to the first positionby determining that an attachment position has not changed since thefirst time period.

Operation 250 involves communicating, using a wireless communicationmodule 170 coupled to the belt buckle frame 110, the first tension, thesecond tension, the first position, and the second position to a firstdevice such as mobile device 180. As mentioned above, the tension andposition measurements may be stored locally in memory and aggregated tobe sent as a set to a remote device such as mobile device 180. In otherembodiments, operation 250 may occur as each measurement is taken, suchthat pairs of tension and position measurements are streamed from belt100 as the measurements occur.

FIG. 3 illustrates another belt 300 for waist measurement according tosome example embodiments. Belt 300 includes belt buckle frame 310 andbelt strap 320. Belt strap 320 has a first end 321 and a second end 323as well as an attachment area 322. In belt 300, attachment area 322 ofbelt strap 320 attaches to belt buckle frame 310 at second beltattachment 214. In contrast to belt 100, belt 300 includes a belt strap320 with a single attachment area 322. Belt 300, however, includes abelt strap coil 370 which is stored within belt buckle frame 310.

In belt 300, belt strap coil 370 may be used both to measure a positionand to measure a tension within belt strap 320. Belt strap coil 370 mayinclude a spring or other tension source to exert a continuous force onthe first end 321 of belt strap 320. If the second end 323 of belt strap320 is not attached to second belt attachment 214 or another fixedposition, then the force exerted by belt strap coil 370 on the first end321 will result in belt strap 320 being retracted into belt buckle frame310 as part of belt strap coil 370. If the second end 323 is connectedto second belt attachment 314 via attachment area 322, then the user'swaist and the second belt attachment 314 along with belt strap coil 370will keep belt strap 320 in place. As the user's waist size changes,belt strap coil 370 will wind and unwind to compensate for changes inthe user's waist size. Additionally, tension in belt strap 320 may bemeasured by the amount of force placed on belt strap coil 370. Beltstrap coil 370 may have a tension force window. Inside the window, thecoil will not move. Outside the window, the belt strap coil 370 willrotate. Tension values within the window may be measured as part of atension measuring module. Tension values above this rotation window willcause the belt strap 320 to extend from belt buckle frame 310 and beltstrap coil 370 to unwind. Tension values below this rotation window willcause the belt strap 320 to retract and be gathered into belt strap coil370. In the embodiment of belt 300, belt strap coil 370 acts as a firstbelt attachment as well as at least a portion of a tension measuringmodule and a position measuring module. In certain embodiments, atension measurement may be taken once as an initial calibration, with asensor to detect changes in tension rather than re-measuring tension foreach position measurement. In such an embodiment, a tension/positionpair may be generated using a previous tension measurement without a newtension measurement for each tension/position data pair that is used fora waist size estimate.

One or more processors 394 may be used with belt strap coil 370 andadditional measurement circuits or other elements to create measurementdata. A position may be determined from a rotation position of beltstrap coil 370. Tension may be determined from a tension measurementassociated with a rotational force on belt strap coil 370. The positionand tension measurements derived from belt strap coil 370 may generatemeasurements which are stored in memory 392. Wireless input/output (I/O)396 may then be used to communicate these waist measurements to remotedevices such as a mobile device 180 or a server computer 106.

In various embodiments, belt 300 may be structured to be attached toother belt elements. For example, belt strap 320 may be a thin string orchain which may be attached to a larger, more traditional belt strap.Similarly, belt buckle frame 310 may be a small encapsulated structurewhich contains the memory 392, one or more processors 394, wireless I/O396, and belt strap coil 370 as well as any other associated positionmeasuring module and tension measuring module elements. A larger beltbuckle front may be attached to belt buckle frame 310 to match thetraditional belt strap. Belt 300 may thus be a modular belt withelements illustrated by FIG. 3. The belt strap 320 and belt buckle frame310 of such an embodiment are functional elements that are covered byother interchangeable coverings. Alternatively, belt 300 may be designedto be worn inside of a user's clothes with a separate belt over theclothes which is not integrated with belt 300. In such an embodiment,belt strap 320 may comprise a thin line of string, a thin chain, orother material that may be compactly structured when wound as part ofbelt strap coil 370. In such an embodiment, belt buckle frame 310 mayinclude an outer covering with flat top and bottom surfaces. The flatbottom surface may be structured to lie flat against a user's skin, withthe flat top surface designed to protect the internal elements of beltbuckle frame 310 from a user's clothing or other external contact.

FIG. 4 illustrates a belt buckle frame 410 for a waist measuring beltaccording to some example embodiments. The belt buckle frame 410 is notshown with a particular associated belt strap. As described above,certain embodiments may modularly be associated with multiple differentelements such as multiple different belt straps. Belt buckle frame 410does include a first belt attachment 412 and a second belt attachment414. At least one of the belt attachments 412 and 414 will include anadjustable interface for attaching to a belt strap. Belt buckle frame410 additionally includes one or more processors 492, one or moresensors 498, wireless input/output (I/O) 496, an antenna 499 coupled tothe wireless I/O 496, and memory 494. Memory 494 includes processorreadable instructions that when used with one or more processors 492 maybe used as at least part of a position measuring module 450, a tensionmeasuring module 460, and one or more operating modules 455. Thesemodules may operate with processors 492 and sensors 498 to gatherposition and tension measurements and to communicate measured positionand tension values to other devices via wireless I/O 496 and antenna499.

Additionally, because there is no particular belt strap associated withbelt buckle frame 410, memory 494 may also receive and store belt strapinformation that may be used by position measuring module 450 andtension measuring module 460. For example, when a particular belt strapis attached to the belt buckle frame 410 via first belt attachment 412and second belt attachment 414, belt strap information associated withthis particular belt strap may be communicated to memory 494 viawireless I/O 496. This may include length information, informationassociated with various attachment areas of the belt strap, andflexibility information which may be used to determine how a particulartension measurement may be used to estimate a user's waist size. Forexample, this belt strap information may include a flexibility value.The flexibility value may identify that a high tension value on aflexible belt may significantly alter a waist size estimate from anexpected perimeter that is only based on an attachment position of thebelt strap to the second belt attachment 414 and the first beltattachment 412. The belt strap information may additionally include anyother information associated with aspects of the belt strap that willimpact a determination of a belt perimeter when a belt is attached in aparticular configuration, and information that will relate a measuredtension in the belt strap with an estimated user waist size.

As different belt straps are attached to the belt buckle frame 410, newbelt strap information associated with the newly attached belt strap maybe communicated to memory 494 via wireless I/O 496. This new informationmay then be used for waist measurements taken while the new belt strapis attached to the belt buckle frame 410. As waist measurements aretaken and stored in memory 494, the waist measurements may becommunicated to other devices along with belt strap information. Thisbelt strap information may be used by the other devices to estimate theuser's waist size using not only the position and tension measurementsbut also the belt strap information that may be used to interpret thesemeasurements. This may enable a remote device such as mobile device 180or server computer 106 to generate standardized estimated waist sizeseven when measurements are taken using different belt straps, belts,belt buckle frames, or other elements of multiple differentimplementations of a waist measuring belt described herein.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating aspects of a method 500 of waistmeasurement using a waist measuring belt according to some exampleembodiments. While the method 500 may be used with a variety ofdifferent embodiments of a waist measuring belt, including bothembodiments described herein as well as other embodiments notspecifically described herein that operate in accordance with thedescribed innovations, the method 500 will be described with respect tosystem 101 for illustrative purposes.

Method 500 illustrates operations by server computer 106, mobile device180, and belt 100. Method 500 additionally illustrates communicationsbetween these elements. Method 500 begins with operation 502, in whichany mobile device 180 or belt 100 associated with the user may beregistered with server computer 106. In various embodiments, this mayinvolve multiple mobile devices 180 and multiple belts 100 beingregistered with server computer 106. Such a registration may beaccomplished a number of different ways. In certain embodiments, aseparate computing device of a user may be used to contact servercomputer 106 via a network such as network 904. The user may provideidentifying details for mobile device 180 and belts 100 to servercomputer 106. The user may additionally generate a login and password orother security information that enables mobile device 180 to communicatewith server computer 106 securely and a store information such as theuser's measurements and estimated waist size at server computer 106 or astorage device associated with server computer 106. In embodiments withmodular belts, multiple belt straps may be associated with differentbelt buckle frames, and calibration information for position and forcemeasurements made with each combination of belt strap and belt buckleframe may be associated with the user's account by server computer 106.

After the user registers with server computer 106, in operation 504server computer 106 provides an application and belt information tomobile device 180. In operation 506, the mobile device 180 receives theapplication and belt information from server computer 106. Theapplication may include instructions readable by a processor of mobiledevice 180 in order to retrieve measurement information from belt 100,estimate a user's waist size using measurements from belt 100,communicate with server computer 106 to receive additional informationassociated with the user's waist measurements such as anonymized waistmeasurements for other similar users, and any other operation enabled bya system in conjunction with belt 100.

In operation 508, belt 100 synchronizes with mobile device 180 to enablebelts 100 to communicate position and tension measurements from belt 100to mobile device 180. This synchronizing operation of operation 508 mayinclude handshaking operations as part of any communication protocoldescribed below.

Operation 510 involves calibration for measurements taken by belt 100.In certain embodiments, this calibration may simply involveidentification of a belt buckle frame 110 and belt strap 120 which arepart of belt 100. This may enable mobile device 180 to identify beltinformation received from server computer 106. Mobile device 180 maythen use this belt information to interpret measurement values receivedfrom belt 100. In other embodiments, particular measurements may betaken as part of operation 510. For example, a user may be asked toperform a specific measurement of both tension and position to verifythe correctness of belt information received from server computer 106.Such a calibration process may involve independent measurements of beltlength from a belt tip to the attachment area using an independentmeasurement device such as a ruler. This may also involve hanging aweight from one end of a belt and communicating the resulting tensionmeasurement from a tension measuring module 160 of belt 100 to mobiledevice 180. This may also involve any other similar calibrationmeasurement related to position and tension measurements that may betaken by belt 100. In certain embodiments, a belt buckle that isattached to the belt buckle frame or the belt buckle frame itself mayact as this weight.

When such calibration measurements are performed, resulting data may becommunicated to server computer 106 in operation 511. In operation 511,server computer 106 may receive calibration measurements from mobiledevice 180, and may use this information to update belt informationstored at server computer 106. For example, server computer 106 mayinclude a database of calibration measurements taken by users inassociation with particular belt types. Each belt type may have anassociated history of calibration measurements taken by a large numberof users. This crowdsourced calibration measurement information may beused to update and generate belt information over time. This updatedbelt information may then be communicated to system users duringregistration, or other update communications from server computer 106 tomobile device 180 and any other device in the system.

Following a calibration process, in operation 512, belt 100 may measuretension, position, and time to generate waist measurements. Thesetension and position measurements along with information about the timeat which the measurements were taken may be stored in a memory of belt100 in operation 514.

In certain embodiments, a belt 100 may include a set of thresholds. Thethresholds may be provided by the user during the calibration orregistration process. In other embodiments, a threshold may be a defaultsystem value which may be adjusted by a user. In operation 515, waistmeasurements stored in operation 514 may be checked against one or morethreshold values. Such a threshold may be set by a user as an assistancefor weight loss. If a threshold is exceeded, an alert may be generatedto alert the user that the threshold has been exceeded. The alert mayinvolve a vibration or sound generated by belt 100, and the alert mayalso include a communication sent to another device such as mobiledevice 180 via a wireless communication interface of belt 100.

In operation 516, waist measurements stored at belt 100 may becommunicated to mobile device 180. In operation 518, the process ofmeasuring, storing measurement values, checking for measurements thatexceed threshold values, and communicating waist measurements may berepeated. This repetition may be periodic or based on some trigger. Incertain embodiments, the various elements may be repeated at differentfrequencies than are various other elements. For example, in certainembodiments, waist measurements may be communicated daily even thoughwaist measurement values may be generated multiple times per second,minute, or hour.

In operation 520, mobile device 180 receives waist measurements frombelt 100. In operation 522, mobile device 180 uses tension and positionmeasurements received from belt 100 to generate an estimated waist size.As described above, this may be done using a table of information thatis stored locally at a belt or that is stored remotely at a mobiledevice or server computer. This waist estimate may include weightedcalculations using belt information, calibration information, positioninformation, tension information, user profile information, and anyother such information which may be used to estimate a user's waist sizeusing any method including the table or formula methods mentioned above.For example, in one embodiment, a belt perimeter is calculated usingbelt information and a position measurement from belt 100. A tensionmeasurement may then be used with additional belt information about theflexibility of a belt strap 120 that is part of belt 100, in order toestimate a user's waist size based on a base waist size which is equalto the belt perimeter plus an adjustment value generated from thetension and the belt information. Additional details of variousprocesses for estimating waist size from waist measurements aredescribed below with respect to FIG. 6B.

In operation 523, threshold values stored in mobile device 180 may bechecked against estimated waist sizes generated at operation 522. If athreshold is exceeded, mobile device 180 may generate an alert. This mayinvolve communication to a user account such as an email, phone, orother such account. In certain embodiments, this may involve a wirelesscommunication to belt 100 which initiates a vibration or sound at atransceiver of belt 100. In certain embodiments, operation 515 andoperation 523 may work together to generate alerts to a user.

In operation 520, waist measurements from belt 100 may be communicatednot only to mobile device 180, but also to server computer 106. Adetermination of whether information will be communicated to mobiledevice 180, server computer 106, or both may be set by a structure ofsystem 101, a user selection as part of a registration process, or someother system input. For embodiments where waist measurements aregathered by server computer 106, the server computer 106 may estimatewaist size from the waist measurements in operation 530 just asdescribed with regard to operation 522.

In operation 532, a database record of waist measurements is updatedusing the waist measurement values and waist size estimates fromoperations 520 and 530. In certain embodiments, this information maythen additionally be used to generate multiple user metrics in operation534. Such metrics may use measurements and estimates not only from auser of belt 100, but also from users of other belts. This may includemultiple belts worn by a single user, a single belt style worn bymultiple users, multiple different belts worn by multiple differentusers, or any other such combination of waist measurement values,estimated waist sizes, or any other such system information. Themultiple user metrics of operation 534 may enable a registered user tocompare the user's waist measurements with the measurements of otherusers. Information from multiple different users may be stripped ofidentifying information and provided as statistical information. As partof this process, in operation 534 information from the user of belt 100may be aggregated with information of other users into statisticalvalues which make up system metrics.

In operation 524, waist measurement values, estimated waist size values,and any metrics from server computer 106 may be received by mobiledevice 180 and used to update a local record. This local record may thenbe used in operation 526 to generate a measurement history display. Anexample measurement history display is illustrated by FIG. 6B.

FIGS. 6A and 6B depict an example mobile device and mobile operatingsystem interface, according to some example embodiments. FIG. 6Aillustrates an example mobile device 600 that may be executing a mobileoperating system (e.g., iOS™, Android™, Windows® Phone, or other mobileoperating systems), according to example embodiments. In certainembodiments, mobile device 180 may be implemented as mobile device 600.In one embodiment, the mobile device 600 may include a touch screen thatmay receive tactile information from a user 602. For instance, the user602 may physically touch 604 the mobile device 600, and in response tothe touch 604, the mobile device 600 may determine tactile informationsuch as touch location, touch force, gesture motion, and so forth. Invarious example embodiments, the mobile device 600 may display homescreen 606 (e.g., Springboard on iOS™) that the user 602 of the mobiledevice 600 may use to launch applications and otherwise manage themobile device 600. In various example embodiments, the home screen 606may provide status information such as battery life, connectivity, orother hardware status. The home screen 606 may also include a pluralityof icons that may be activated to launch applications, for example, bytouching 604 the area occupied by the icon. Similarly, other userinterface elements may be activated by touching 604 an area occupied bya particular user interface element. In this manner, the user 602 mayinteract with the applications.

Many varieties of applications (also referred to as “apps”) may beexecuting on the mobile device 600. The applications may include nativeapplications (e.g., applications programmed in Objective-C running oniOS™ or applications programmed in Java running on Android™), mobile webapplications (e.g., HTML5), or hybrid applications (e.g., a native shellapplication that launches an HTML5 session). In a specific example, themobile device 600 may include a messaging app 620, audio recording app622, a camera app 624, a book reader app 626, a media app 628, a fitnessapp 630, a file management app 632, a location app 634, a browser app636, a settings app 638, a contacts app 640, a telephone call app 642,other apps (e.g., gaming apps, social networking apps, biometricmonitoring apps), a third party app 644, and so forth.

A fitness app 630 may, in certain embodiments, be an applicationdownloaded to a mobile device 180 from a server computer 106 as part ofoperations 504 and 506 described above. Fitness app 630 may managecalibration and measurement communication between a mobile device 600and a belt or belt buckle frame such as belt 100, belt 300, or beltbuckle frame 410. Fitness app 630 may receive tension and positionmeasurements from a waist measuring belt, use this information alongwith belt information to generate estimated waist sizes, and standardizeestimated waist sizes generated from different configurations of waistmeasuring belts with different belt straps or belt buckle frames.

FIG. 6B illustrates a display of waist measurements and estimated waistsizes that may be equivalent to the display generated in operation 526.This includes time scale 652, measurement scale(s) 654, position values660, tension values 670, and estimated waist values 680. In certainembodiments, time scale 652 may, for example, illustrate measurementstaken over the course of a single day. This may track a user's waistsize during consumption of a large meal, for example. In otherembodiments time scale 652 may track multiple days, months, or years.Measurement scales 654 may include values for tracking position, force,and estimated waist size, or may include only a scale for estimatedwaist size. Position values 660 may be direct values received from belt100, or may be perimeter values calculated from attachment positionsdetected by belt 100 using a position measuring module 150. Tensionvalues 670 may similarly be direct values, or may be values processedusing calibration parameters. In certain embodiments, an output displayas shown by FIG. 6B may include data from multiple belts which arestandardized using belt information or calibration parameters tostandardize the values across measurements from different belt devices.Estimated waist size values 680 are values calculated using the positionvalues 660 and tension values 670. For example, when tension values arehigh, an estimated waist size value differs from the position value by alarger amount than when a tension value is low, as illustrated by thetension arrows of tension values 670 reflecting a larger tensionmagnitude. If a tension value is low or nonexistent, the associatedposition value may be ignored or averaged into other estimated waistsize measurements, since a low tension may be associated with a beltperimeter that does not match a user's waist at all.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram 700 illustrating an architecture of software702 which may be installed on any one or more of the devices describedherein, including mobile devices 180 and 600 which may operate a fitnessapplication 630. FIG. 7 is merely a non-limiting example of a softwarearchitecture and it will be appreciated that many other architecturesmay be implemented to facilitate the functionality described herein. Thesoftware 702 may be executing on hardware such as machine 800 of FIG. 8that includes processors 810, memory 830, and I/O components 850. In theexample architecture of FIG. 7, the software 702 may be conceptualizedas a stack of layers where each layer may provide particularfunctionality. For example, the software 702 may include layers such asan operating system 704, libraries 706, frameworks 708, and applications710. Operationally, the applications 710 may invoke applicationprogramming interface (API) calls 712 through the software stack andreceive messages 714 in response to the API calls 712.

The operating system 704 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 704 may include, for example, akernel 720, services 722, and drivers 724. The kernel 720 may act as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 720 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 722 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 724 maybe responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlyinghardware. For instance, the drivers 724 may include display drivers,camera drivers, Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serialcommunication drivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi®drivers, audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth.

The libraries 706 may provide a low-level common infrastructure that maybe utilized by the applications 710. The libraries 706 may includesystem libraries 730 (e.g., C standard library) that may providefunctions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulationfunctions, mathematic functions, and the like. In addition, thelibraries 706 may include API libraries 732 such as media libraries(e.g., libraries 706 to support presentation and manipulation of variousmedia format such as MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG), graphicslibraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D and3D in graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLitethat may provide various relational database functions), web libraries(e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsing functionality), and thelike. The libraries 706 may also include a wide variety of otherlibraries 734 to provide many other APIs to the applications 710.

The frameworks 708 may provide a high-level common infrastructure thatmay be utilized by the applications 710. For example, the frameworks 708may provide various graphic user interface (GUI) functions, high-levelresource management, high-level location services, and so forth. Theframeworks 708 may provide a broad spectrum of other APIs that may beutilized by the applications 710, some of which may be specific to aparticular operating system or platform.

The applications 710 include a home application 750, a contactsapplication 752, a browser application 754, a book reader application756, a location application 758, a media application 760, a messagingapplication 762, a game application 764, and a broad assortment of otherapplications 710 such as third party application 766. In a specificexample, the third party application 766 (e.g., an application developedusing the Android™ or iOS™ software development kit (SDK) by an entityother than the vendor of the particular platform) may be mobile softwarerunning on a mobile operating system 704 such as iOS™, Android™,Windows® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. In this example, thethird party application 766 may invoke the API calls 712 provided by theoperating system 704 to facilitate functionality described herein. Invarious embodiments, these applications may interact with a fitnessapplication 630 in various ways. For example, a messaging application762 may be used for alerts or any communications with a waist measuringbelt. A game application 764 may receive estimated waist values or otherwaist measurements as inputs to a game over time that may present a userwith achievements based on waist measurements in conjunction withexercise inputs, heart rate inputs, or other such inputs.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 800,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, includingoperation of a fitness application 630 that communicates with a waistmeasuring belt. Specifically, FIG. 8 shows a diagrammatic representationof the machine 800 in the example form of a computer system, withinwhich instructions 816 (e.g., software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code) for causing the machine 800 toperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein may beexecuted. In alternative embodiments, the machine 800 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 800 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 800 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smartphone, a mobile device 600, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 816, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by machine 800. Further, while only a single machine 800 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines 800 that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 816 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 800 may include processors 810, memory 830, and I/Ocomponents 850, which may be configured to communicate with each othervia a bus 802. In an example embodiment, the processors 810 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing(RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor,a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequencyintegrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitablecombination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 812 and aprocessor 814 that may execute the instructions 816. The term“processor” is intended to include multi-core processor that maycomprise two or more independent processors (also referred to as“cores”) that may execute the instructions 816 contemporaneously.Although FIG. 8 shows multiple processors 810, the machine 800 mayinclude a single processor 810 with a single core, a single processor810 with multiple cores (e.g., a multi-core process), multipleprocessors 810 with a single core, multiple processors 810 withmultiples cores, or any combination thereof.

The memory 830 may include a main memory 832, a static memory 834, and astorage unit 836 accessible to the processors 810 via the bus 802. Thestorage unit 836 may include a machine-readable medium 838 on which arestored the instructions 816 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 816 mayalso reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory832, within the static memory 834, within at least one of the processors810 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or any suitablecombination thereof, during execution thereof by the machine 800.Accordingly, the main memory 832, static memory 834, and the processors810 may be considered machine-readable media 838.

As used herein, the term “memory” refers to a machine-readable medium838 able to store data temporarily or permanently and may be taken toinclude, but not be limited to, random-access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, and cache memory. While themachine-readable medium 838 is shown in an example embodiment to be asingle medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should be taken toinclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to storeinstructions 816. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be takento include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that is capableof storing instructions (e.g., instructions 816) for execution by amachine (e.g., machine 800), such that the instructions 816, whenexecuted by one or more processors of the machine 800 (e.g., processors810), cause the machine 800 to perform any one or more of themethodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium”refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based”storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storageapparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, one or more datarepositories in the form of a solid-state memory (e.g., flash memory),an optical medium, a magnetic medium, other non-volatile memory (e.g.,erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)), or any suitablecombination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” specificallyexcludes non-statutory signals per se. Any such memory may be includedas part of memory device 175, memory 392, memory 494, or any othermemory of a belt 100, mobile device 180, server computer 106, or othercomputing device which communicates with a waist measuring belt asdescribed herein.

The I/O components 850 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. It will beappreciated that the I/O components 850 may include many othercomponents that are not shown in FIG. 8. The I/O components 850 aregrouped according to functionality merely for simplifying the followingdiscussion, and the grouping is in no way limiting. In various exampleembodiments, the I/O components 850 may include output components 852and input components 854. The output components 852 may include visualcomponents (e.g., a display such as a plasma display panel (PDP), alight emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), aprojector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acoustic components (e.g.,speakers), haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor), other signalgenerators, and so forth. The input components 854 may includealphanumeric input components (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screenconfigured to receive alphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, orother alphanumeric input components), point based input components(e.g., a mouse, a touchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, orother pointing instruments), tactile input components (e.g., a physicalbutton, a touch screen that provides location and force of touches ortouch gestures, or other tactile input components), audio inputcomponents (e.g., a microphone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 850 may includebiometric components 856, motion components 858, environmentalcomponents 860, or position components 862 among a wide array of othercomponents. For example, the biometric components 856 may includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 858 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 860 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detect concentrations of hazardous gases for safetyor to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other components thatmay provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding to asurrounding physical environment. The position components 862 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a Global Positioning System(GPS) receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimetersor barometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may bederived), orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and thelike.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 850 may include communication components 864 operableto couple the machine 800 to a network 880 or devices 870 via coupling882 and coupling 872 respectively. For example, the communicationcomponents 864 may include a network interface component or othersuitable device to interface with the network 880. In further examples,communication components 864 may include wired communication components,wireless communication components, cellular communication components,near field communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g.,Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents 864 to provide communication via other modalities. Thedevices 870 may be another machine 800 or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)).

Moreover, the communication components 864 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 864 may include radio frequency identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) codes, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar codes, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components864, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting an NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

The instructions 816 may be transmitted or received over the network 880using a transmission medium via a network interface device (e.g., anetwork interface component included in the communication components864) and utilizing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols(e.g., hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)). Similarly, the instructions816 may be transmitted or received using a transmission medium via thecoupling 872 (e.g., a peer-to-peer coupling) to devices 870. The term“transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions 816 forexecution by the machine 800, and includes digital or analogcommunications signals or other intangible media to facilitatecommunication of such software.

Furthermore, the machine-readable medium 838 is non-transitory (in otherwords, not having any transitory signals) in that it does not embody apropagating signal. However, labeling the machine-readable medium 838“non-transitory” should not be construed to mean that the medium isincapable of movement; the medium should be considered as beingtransportable from one physical location to another. Additionally, sincethe machine-readable medium 838 is tangible, the medium may beconsidered to be a machine-readable device.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a network architecture of asystem 900 for communications between waist measuring belts, mobiledevices, server computers, or any other such computing devices such asbelt 100, mobile device 180, and server computer 106. The system 900includes a first device 910 a, second device 910 b, and a networkedsystem 902, which may communicate with each other through a network 904.The first device 910 a and the second device 910 b represent clientdevices and are also referred to as electronic devices. The first device910 a may be executing an application session 919 a which may includepersonal application data 912 a such as any form of waist measurementinformation or estimated waist size values. The second device 910 b maybe executing an application session 919 b which may include personalapplication data 912 b. The application session 919 a running on thefirst device 910 a may be transferred to the second device 910 b andrepresented as the application session 919 b, and vice versa, accordingto one embodiment.

Devices and network components operating as part of network 904 andnetworked system 902 may include any access point hardware, networkinghardware, or communication device described herein which may be used torelay information between devices 910 and networked system 902, eitherof which may comprise a belt 100, mobile device 180, or server computer106.

The networked system 902 includes a publication system(s) 942 and aserver computer 950. The publication system(s) 942 and the servercomputer 950 access data stored in database 926 a, which store userdata, application data, and device security data. The data pertaining tothe user account (also referred to as user data 927 a) may be stored asone or more records in the database 926 a. The data pertaining to theuser account may include data identifying the user (e.g., the user'sfirst and last names, phone number, billing and shipping address(es),and Social Security Number

(SSN), whether the user is a frequent buyer, whether the user is also avendor or a seller, etc.), transaction data (e.g., the name of apurchased product, a product identifier, the date of transaction, theprice, the condition of the product, etc.), user demographic data (e.g.,age, gender, financial information, family status, employment status,etc.), purchase history data, return history data, product review data,etc. The user data 927 a may also include the user's login informationsuch as user name and password.

In various example embodiments, one or more portions of the network 880may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi®network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more suchnetworks. For example, the network 880 or a portion of the network 880may include a wireless or cellular network and the coupling 882 may be aCode Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System forMobile communications (GSM) connection, or another type of cellular orwireless coupling. In this example, the coupling 882 may implement anyof a variety of types of data transfer technology, such as SingleCarrier Radio Transmission Technology (1xRTT), Evolution-Data Optimized(EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology,Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, thirdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generationwireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, othersdefined by various standard-setting organizations, other long rangeprotocols, or other data transfer technology.

Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a numberof components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules may constitute eithersoftware modules (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readable medium or ina transmission signal) or hardware modules. A “hardware module” is atangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may beconfigured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exampleembodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computersystem, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one ormore hardware modules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a groupof processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application orapplication portion) as a hardware module that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

In some embodiments, a hardware module may be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware module may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware module may be a special-purpose processor, such as afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC). A hardware module may also includeprogrammable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configured bysoftware to perform certain operations. For example, a hardware modulemay include software encompassed within a general-purpose processor orother programmable processor. It will be appreciated that the decisionto implement a hardware module mechanically, in dedicated andpermanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry(e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and timeconsiderations.

Accordingly, the phrase “hardware module” should be understood toencompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or toperform certain operations described herein. As used herein,“hardware-implemented module” refers to a hardware module. Consideringembodiments in which hardware modules are temporarily configured (e.g.,programmed), each of the hardware modules need not be configured orinstantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where a hardwaremodule comprises a general-purpose processor configured by software tobecome a special-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor may beconfigured as respectively different special-purpose processors (e.g.,comprising different hardware modules) at different times. Software mayaccordingly configure a particular processor or processors, for example,to constitute a particular hardware module at one instance of time andto constitute a different hardware module at a different instance oftime.

Hardware modules can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware modules. Accordingly, the described hardwaremodules may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiplehardware modules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achievedthrough signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses)between or among two or more of the hardware modules. In embodiments inwhich multiple hardware modules are configured or instantiated atdifferent times, communications between such hardware modules may beachieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of informationin memory structures to which the multiple hardware modules have access.For example, one hardware module may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware module may then, at a latertime, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware modules may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions describedherein. As used herein, “processor-implemented module” refers to ahardware module implemented using one or more processors.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented modules. Moreover, the one or more processors mayalso operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network 904 (e.g., the Internet) andvia one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an application programinterface (API)).

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployedacross a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processorsor processor-implemented modules may be located in a single geographiclocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or aserver farm). In other example embodiments, the processors orprocessor-implemented modules may be distributed across a number ofgeographic locations.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has been describedwith reference to specific example embodiments, various modificationsand changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure. Such embodimentsof the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individuallyor collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience andwithout intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application toany single disclosure or inventive concept if more than one is, in fact,disclosed.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed.Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be provided forresources, operations, or structures described herein as a singleinstance. Additionally, boundaries between various resources,operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary,and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specificillustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality areenvisioned and may fall within a scope of various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In general, structures and functionality presentedas separate resources in the example configurations may be implementedas a combined structure or resource. Similarly, structures andfunctionality presented as a single resource may be implemented asseparate resources. These and other variations, modifications,additions, and improvements fall within a scope of embodiments of thepresent disclosure as represented by the appended claims. Thespecification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, from a wearabledevice, tension data that indicates a plurality of tensions experiencedduring a time interval by a portion of the wearable device encompassinga waist of a user wearing the wearable device; generating, based on thetension data, an estimated waist size for user; receiving, from aserver, a plurality of waist sizes, each of the plurality of waist sizesindicating a waist size for a different user measured during the timeinterval; and causing a display of the estimated waist size for the usercompared relative to at least a portion of the plurality of waist sizesat a client computing device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thewearable device is a belt and the portion of the wearable deviceencompassing the waist of the user is a belt strap, the method furthercomprising receiving position data from an attachment frame of the belt,position data that indicates one of a plurality of discrete attachmentareas along the belt strap being used to mechanically couple the beltstrap to the attachment frame, wherein generating the estimated waistsize is further performed using the position data.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising transmitting the estimated waist size forthe user to the server independent of personally identifying informationfor the user.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receivinginput at the client computing device setting a waist size threshold andcausing output of an alarm at the client computing device responsive todetermining that the estimated waist size exceeds the waist sizethreshold.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving inputat the client computing device designating a waist size goal value andcausing a display of an achievement at the client computing deviceresponsive to determining that the estimated waist size satisfies thewaist size goal value.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wearabledevice and the client computing device are connected via a wirelesscommunication connection and receiving the tension data is performed viathe wireless communication connection.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereincausing the display of the estimated waist size at the client computingdevice further comprises causing the estimated waist size to bedisplayed together with at least one historical waist size measurementfor the user.
 8. A system comprising: one or more processors; and acomputer-readable medium storing instructions that are executable by theone or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving, froma wearable device, tension data that indicates a plurality of tensionsexperienced during a time interval by a portion of the wearable deviceencompassing a waist of a user wearing the wearable device; generating,based on the tension data, an estimated waist size for user; receiving,from a server, a plurality of waist sizes, each of the plurality ofwaist sizes indicating a waist size for a different user measured duringthe time interval; and causing a display of the estimated waist size forthe user compared relative to at least a portion of the plurality ofwaist sizes at a client computing device.
 9. The system of claim 8,wherein the wearable device is a belt and the portion of the wearabledevice encompassing the waist of the user is a belt strap, theoperations further comprising receiving position data from an attachmentframe of the belt, position data that indicates one of a plurality ofdiscrete attachment areas along the belt strap being used tomechanically couple the belt strap to the attachment frame, whereingenerating the estimated waist size is further performed using theposition data.
 10. The system of claim 8, the operations furthercomprising transmitting the estimated waist size for the user to theserver independent of personally identifying information for the user.11. The system of claim 8, the operations further comprising receivinginput at the client computing device setting a waist size threshold andcausing output of an alarm at the client computing device responsive todetermining that the estimated waist size exceeds the waist sizethreshold.
 12. The system of claim 8, the operations further comprisingreceiving input at the client computing device designating a waist sizegoal value and causing a display of an achievement at the clientcomputing device responsive to determining that the estimated waist sizesatisfies the waist size goal value.
 13. The system of claim 8, whereinthe wearable device and the client computing device are connected via awireless communication connection and receiving the tension data isperformed via the wireless communication connection.
 14. The system ofclaim 8, wherein causing the display of the estimated waist size at theclient computing device further comprises causing the estimated waistsize to be displayed together with at least one historical waist sizemeasurement for the user.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring instructions that are executable by a computing device toperform operations comprising: receiving, from a wearable device,tension data that indicates a plurality of tensions experienced during atime interval by a portion of the wearable device encompassing a waistof a user wearing the wearable device; generating, based on the tensiondata, an estimated waist size for user; receiving, from a server, aplurality of waist sizes, each of the plurality of waist sizesindicating a waist size for a different user measured during the timeinterval; and causing a display of the estimated waist size for the usercompared relative to at least a portion of the plurality of waist sizesat a client computing device.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 15, wherein the wearable device is a belt and theportion of the wearable device encompassing the waist of the user is abelt strap, the operations further comprising receiving position datafrom an attachment frame of the belt, position data that indicates oneof a plurality of discrete attachment areas along the belt strap beingused to mechanically couple the belt strap to the attachment frame,wherein generating the estimated waist size is further performed usingthe position data.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 15, the operations further comprising transmitting the estimatedwaist size for the user to the server independent of personallyidentifying information for the user.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprisingreceiving input at the client computing device setting a waist sizethreshold and causing output of an alarm at the client computing deviceresponsive to determining that the estimated waist size exceeds thewaist size threshold.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 15, the operations further comprising receiving input at theclient computing device designating a waist size goal value and causinga display of an achievement at the client computing device responsive todetermining that the estimated waist size satisfies the waist size goalvalue.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the wearable device and the client computing device areconnected via a wireless communication connection and receiving thetension data is performed via the wireless communication connection.